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MACKAY'S future may line its skyline with units and apartment blocks, but we're clinging to our big blocks of dirt for now.

While Mackay Regional Council is pushing for higher density housing needed to improve affordability and accommodate our booming population, LJ Hooker Mackay partner Des Besanko says local home buyers are continuing to opt for big blocks of land.

“We're still not like the capital cities,” Mr Besanko said.

“People still want that block of dirt here because they still want their toys.

“We haven't really embraced the unit market here as much yet. It will change over time, but not yet.”

Mr Besanko said council was encouraging developers to market smaller lots, with a Heaths Road development recently changed from 43 large blocks with duplexes to 79 blocks of between 250sq m and 300sq m each.

LJ Hooker chief executive officer L Janusz Hooker, who visited Mackay last week, said while 250sq m to 300sq m block of land was considered small in Mackay, it was large compared to many others in the world.

“On a global perspective, that's not a small block,” Mr Hooker said.

“A lot of people all around the world are very happy with that size block.

“In Australia we've been very spoilt because we do have this huge land mass.

“Anywhere else in Europe or anywhere where there's (high) density, it would be a small estate.”

While the traditional big block of land was far from extinct in Mackay, Mr Besanko said a trend towards smaller properties had developed since the global financial crisis (GFC).

“(Pre-GFC) we had the four and five-bedroom homes with the entertainment room plus the double lock-up garage, and people wanted a minimum 900sq m (of land),” Mr Besanko said.

“They were getting paid well, they were getting overtime – then a lot of that stopped. The sizes of those houses have already decreased.

“I think we've been educated a bit here that you don't need that (massive home and garden).”

Mr Besanko said smaller blocks and unit living would help improve housing affordability for those living in the Mackay region, particularly those who weren't earning the big bucks widely offered by the mining industry.

“We have a two-speed economy here – we have the nurses, the policemen and the corner store people who aren't geared in to the money and the wages that the mines are giving.”